Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Din and his squadron stepped into the troop assault transport. He did another quick check of his equipment. He had forced himself to remain calm Being angry or overtly worried would make him sloppy and possibly get killed.

He took another deep breath and focused on the task at hand. The transport dusted off and quickly flew them to the top of the building.

They squadron leapt out of the craft and sprinted towards the ceiling hatch.

"Okay, Tyhco. Get that hatch open", Din commanded.

"Ay-aye sir", Tycho acknowledged. He opened the control panel and quickly sorted out the fuses. It was an easy hack.

Tycho stepped back and the hatch opened.

"York get in there, you're on point", Din said.

York quickly poked his head into the shaft to make sure the area was clear. He transitioned into the ladder and quickly slid down the railing.

Din and the rest of the squadron joined him as they slid down and took up a defensive position.

"Okay, we're going to split into two-man units to clear this floor. Be as quit as possible. Use your knives and batons if you can., but you're also cleared hot to use blasters. Only use your grenades if necessary", Din said.

Din and Tycho moved down the north hallway, as they meticulously checked different offices. Their section of the top floor was clear.

The rest of the team reported that the floor was clear.

"Okay, use the closets staircases to your position to head down. We'll stay in two-man teams until we form up on the fourth floor above the entrance. Remain quiet", Din said.

"It's way too quiet, Din", Tycho said.

"I know, the terrorists are either stupid or they've prepped an ambush for use once we reach the lower floors", Din replied.

With that said, Tycho held his blaster at the ready and he and Din quietly traversed down the staircase. They quietly checked the floors. Tycho froze after he checked a corner.

"There's a digital tripwire linked to an explosive. I'm going to try and disarm it", Tycho said.

Din nodded in response. "All units, this is Dagger One. We've encountered a digital tripwire. Check your corners carefully as there probably is more", Din said.

Tycho disarmed the tripwire and they began their slow movements. Tycho checked another corner and motioned Din to stop.

"I have one enemy combatant down that hallway. He's facing the other way. Do you want me to take him?", Tycho asked.

Din shook his head. "You've still got a bum leg, I'll do it."

Din silently slung his repeating blaster onto his back and withdrew his eight-inch tactical knife. He peered down the corner and saw the man as he stood and looked away from Din's position.

The twenty-seven-year-old Special Forces Commander quietly moved down the hallway to sneak up behind his prey. This was either going to be a very stupid or very good idea.

He held his breath when he was about five feet away and bent down slightly and wound his legs up. After a moment he exploded into action and grabbed the man's face as he pinched the man's nose and mouth shut.

The terrorist tried to scream, but Din quickly cut his throat. Red blood spewed down the hallway. The terrorist thrashed about for a few moments and then fell limp. Din carefully lowered the man and wiped the blood off his knife on the man's tunic.

Tycho joined him and they resumed their meticulous movements of clearing rooms and hallways. They reached another staircase going down to the fifth floor.

"We're ready to descend to the fifth floor, everyone good?", Din asked.

Again, Din heard various acknowledgements from his team.

"Okay, move out slowly. We killed one terrorist, so there's probably going to be more on this next floor.

Din patted Tycho on the shoulder to signal him to move out.

They again traversed down the staircase, carefully checking the corner with their weapons at the ready.

Suddenly, he heard Wedge on the radio. "Dagger One, this is Two, I got one more, moving to clear our section."

"Copy that, Two", Din responded.

After about ten minutes, the team reported that their areas of the floor were cleared.

Din took a deep breath. The fourth floor may be a challenge, especially if there were terrorists at the railings looking down at the entrance hall. Din and Tyco carefully went down to the fourth floor, as they scanned for targets.

Din saw two terrorists guarding a lift.

The dumbasses will guard a lift but not a staircase. They must be inexperienced with holding territory, Din thought, which was fine by him.

"Tycho, you get the one on the left, I'll get the one on the right", Din said.

They both withdrew their tactical knives and silently stalked forward. If the terrorists turned around, they would have to quickly palm their knives into their left hands so they could draw their blasters. Din thought back to the rangemaster's scolding about his reduced reaction time at drawing his sidearm and whished he spent a little more time practicing.

Once they were about ten feet from their targets, Tycho looked at Din and he nodded. They pair lurched forward and grabbed their targets slitting their throats. Din's terrorist gurgled loudly, and Din kept cutting until he sawed through the man's spinal cord making him go completely limp. After they lowered the bodies, they took a quick look at one another. They'd both been sprayed with bright red blood which looked demonic against their black armor.

They sheathed their knives and drew their rifles. Din looked around the corner and say that the hallway with a glass partition was ahead. Din and Tycho crouched and slowly moved forward on their haunches. Once they were close to the glass railing, Din and Tycho went prone on their stomachs and looked down.

The hostages were all in a single group against the south side of the building. Din could see Leia with her hands behind her head. She must have picked up on him through their bond and they both felt each other's anxiety over the situation. Din forced himself to take a deep breath. Leia continued to look forward as not to give any clues to her captors that Din was there.

Both soldiers slowly crawled backwards behind the solid wall.

"How do you want to play this, sir?", Tycho asked.

"I want you to set up here as carefully as you can. Try and get to the far side of the railing and set up your perch. Once we assault the main room, I'll need you to take the targets as quickly as possible but try to be careful if anyone approaches that bomb, I don't want you to miss and hit it", Din said.

"Shit, I never miss anything", Tycho said.

"I know, just be careful", Din said. He tried to focus his on the task at hand but was nervous since he saw Leia.

He felt Leia send him reassuring thoughts as she picked up on his anxiety which soothed Din. He had to get her out as carefully as possible.

"All units, we have sniper oversite. I'm going to go solo to the third floor. Derek, I need you and your repeating blaster to set up a perch on the south side in case this gets ugly but be careful about firing next to that fucking bomb", Din said.

Without waiting for an acknowledgement, he went back to the staircase they had past and moved fluidly down to the third floor. He pivoted around the corner and saw another terrorist. Smoking a cigarette as he looked down at the entrance hall.

Din swore silently. This wasn't going to be easy.

Din withdrew a small knife from his gun belt. He took a deep breath and flung the knife at the terrorist as hard as he could. He heard a faint crunch as the knife was buried in the terrorist's head. He crumped to the floor and his blaster rifle clattered against the marble.

Fuck, Din thought. He held his breath to listen for any shouts from the terrorists on the ground level. There were none. Din eased himself forward and looked down at the terrorists. He counted twelve of them scattered out. None of them were stationed right next to the bomb which was somewhat encouraging.

The terrorists looked tense, which was understandable. They were preparing themselves to die a horrific death once they decided it was time to trigger the explosives. Din wondered what they were waiting for. Veers hadn't said anything about demands. Maybe they were waiting for the building to be assaulted so they could be sure they took as many Imperial soldiers as possible.

He pushed those thoughts aside. Whatever the reason, he didn't have the time to speculate over them.

Din carefully went down the next level of the staircase, careful to search for any trip wired bombs. There weren't any. The terrorists must have figured that the guards posted on the floors above would be enough to alert them if there was a firefight.

Din turned the corner to the last passageway that looked down to the floor. There was a single terrorist. A large Devaronian armed with a blaster pistol leaning against the wall slightly turning to the north wall.

It would be incredibly difficult to take the devilish man out with his knife. Din's squadron was going to have to go weapon's hot, there wasn't any alternative.

"All units, this is Dagger One. I have a combatant that I cannot take quietly. We're going to have to go weapons hot. Half of you stack up with Wedge's team for an assault on the ground level and the other half take overwatch on the south second floor balcony. Watch your fire, I don't want any collateral damage", Din thought.

I'm almost there, baby, don't give up, Din thought. He couldn't fail at this final objective; victory was the only option. He didn't know what he would do if Leia was killed because of a tactical error. He would never forgive himself.

On the ground floor Leia did her best to keep her nerves calm. She knew that Din would be in a firefight soon and silently prayed that he would be okay. She didn't know what she would do if he was killed because she foolishly decided to come to the office that day.

He took another calming breath and pivoted around the corner. As he brought his weapon up, the Devaronian had turned to face him and darted forward at a blistering speed, quickly closing the gap between them.

Din was still bringing his weapon up when the terrorist snatched the barrel of the rifle as he tried o pull it out of Din's hands. Din delivered a quick jab to the alien's throat to try and push him back. It didn't work.

Din tightened his grip on the rifle as he desperately tried to keep control of the weapon. The Devaronian shouted out a warning in Huttese to alert that he needed help. Din increased the grip on the barrel of his weapon and pushed forward, knocking the terrorist back. Din brought his weapon up and immediately fired three blaster bolts into the man, killing him instantly.

He rushed forward to the balcony and heard the men on the bottom shout in alarm as they tried to organize a counter assault.

Tycho's sniper fire and Derek's automatic fire echoed in the hallway and as Din looked down, several of the combatants went down. The rest took shelter behind various large potted plants,

Din brought up his own repeating blaster and fired two bursts into a terrorist, killing him. This was going to be a blood bath if Din couldn't stop this quickly. He saw Wedge's team stacked on the final staircase as they took shots at the terrorists.

Leia watched in terror as the firefight raged on. She went prone on the floor as she tried to tune out the screaming of the other hostages. Mothma curled up into a ball next to her and began sobbing, making Leia want to slap her for loosing her cool.

She saw the Twi'lek run to the bomb and began entering a code on a keypad to start the detonation sequence.

Something inside of her snapped as she became full of rage. She reached out with the Force and felt the man's trachea. She squeezed it as tight as she could. Both of the man's hands grabbed at his throat as his airway closed. Leia lifted him up in the air and felt the life draining from the man as hatred coursed through her veins. She was going to kill him as she gave into her anger.

Din saw the man being choked out and knew Leia was channeling the dark side. He couldn't let her do this, she would be remorseful forever. The terrorist was on the other side of the bomb and he couldn't risk a shot.

Making a decision, he leapt over the railing and onto the floor. In a flash, his right hand unsheathed his long tactical knife and he threw it as quickly as he could at the Twi-lek. The knife buried itself in the alien's heart, killing him instantly. His body grew limp and fell to the floor.

He looked at Leia and shuddered as he briefly saw her face go from hatred to shock. He couldn't do anything about that now.

All of the sudden, he felt his right side be pelted with blaster fire, which nocked him to the ground. As he impacted, his helmet came lose and it slid across the floor, leaving his head unprotected. More blaster fire impacted his suit and as he tried to sit up to engage the terrorist, he felt more impact him forcing him back down on the ground.

As the onslaught against him continued his armor was beginning to wear down and Din could smell the specialized armor heat up and start to smoke. He let go of his repeating blaster and rolled to the side.

"Din", he heard Leia shout in absolute terror.

Din's armor was done, and he know felt blistering pain as his tactical vest was shredded and pierced his armor on his chest. He pulled his blaster pistol from his holster and quickly sat up. A bolt singed his neck, and he could feel the skin split open.

He felt lightheaded as blood started to seep out of his wounds. He couldn't do anything about that now.

After he identified his target, he fired several bolts into him with his pistol, which struck the alien in its head, killing him.

Din groaned in pain as he stood on his feet. It was still absolute chaos as blaster fire filled the air. He had several alien men in his view. He shakily brought his pistol up again and fired into target after target.

A terrorist darted out from behind a planter that held a medium sized tree and lunged at Din with a knife, which knocked them both to the ground. He heled his arm up to block the knife with his forearm and struggled to keep it at mere inches from his throat. He grasped his baton with his right hand and flicked it open.

He bashed the Rodian in the head, knocking it off him. Din rolled on top of the terrorist and began to smash its head with the baton. He kept pounding the terrorist and he didn't realize that the blaster fire had ceased. Rage filed him as the Rodian's skull caved in, spurting blood at Din as he continued to beat the terrorist.

"Commander", Wedge shouted. "It's over."

Din looked around and saw that they had been victorious. He looked at Leia who was staring at him in shock.

Din was still filled with rage. He shakily stood, not noticing the blood that was flowing out of his wounds. He collected his weapons and staggered to the Twi'lek. He stepped on the dead man's chest and yanked to blade out which elected gasps from the hostages. He wiped the knife of and returned it to its sheath.

He looked at Leia who was on her feet. He walked towards her and tripped on his feet which caused him to drop to the floor.

Leia was by his side in a second.

"Help", she screamed.

Wedge and Ardan rushed to Din's side. They turned him over and Ardan ripped open his aid kit and pressed several gauze pads against Din's neck to staunch the bleeding. Din groaned in pain as Wedge shoved more gauze into Din's wounds on his chest, filling the cavities.

Leia held Din's hand. "Hang on Din, you're going to be alright,", she said as tears filled her eyes at the site of her lover's injuries.

Din looked at Leia. "I love you, sweetheart." His voice was hoarse.

Tears flowed out of Leia's eyes. "I love you too. You're going to be alright, just hang in there a little bit longer."

Stormtroopers surged into the building and began tending to the hostages. The engineers were close behind to disarm the bomb.

Time froze for Din and Leia as they gazed into one another's eyes.

Ardan and Wedge furiously fought to control the bleeding.

"Hey, you there", Wedge yelled to a Stormtrooper. "Get a medical team in here right fucking now."

"Yes, sir", the trooper acknowledged as he darted outside of the building.

Din vision grew hazy. He felt Leia's agony.

Not like this, he thought. Please don't let her see me die.

Ardan and Wedge began stripping Din's vest and armor from him so the medical team could effectively tend to his injuries wen they got to him.

Leia carefully pulled his armored glove off and pressed his cold hand against her cheek.

"I need you, Din. You can't leave me", she said as she wept.

Din was so weak he couldn't talk. His vision narrowed rapidly and he knew he would be unconscious soon.

The medical team finally rushed in along with General Veers.

"Move", a doctor told Wedge and Ardan.

"Miss, I need you to move too", the doctor told Leia.

She shook her head. "I can't."

Wedge gently placed his hands underneath her armpits and gently pulled her back. He wrapped an armored arm around her shoulders as the two watched the medical team work on Din.

Two more medics came in with a stretcher.

"Okay, roll him on the stretcher and let's get him back to the palace hospital", the doctor ordered.

Leia watched them carry her lover out.

General Veers stood in shock as he watched the scene. He numbly turned to look at Leia and felt his heart break for the young woman. He knew how much they meant to each other after conversations with Din on Gamorr and aboard the Bravery. He desperately hoped the young man would make it.

Veers shook his head to try and clear his mind. He forced himself to turn away and stepped over to the engineering team to watch them disarm the bomb.

Leia came to her senses and darted out of the building and ran to the medical team who were loading Din into a medical speeder. She climbed in.

One of the medics said, "Miss, unless you're family, you can't be in here."

"I am family", Leia said forcefully. "He's my family."

The medic looked at her sadly and turned his attention back to the dying Special Forces Soldier.

Leia felt the speeder lurch forward at a blistering speed. The medics hooked intravenous fluids up to Din as they continued to dress his wounds. More tears flowed from Leia's eyes as she looked at the blood-soaked bandages on Din's neck and chest.

She felt cold as Din's mind was blank, leaving her without being able to feel him through their bond. The speeder finally made it to the Palace medical center.

They unloaded Din and ran the stretcher inside of the building. Leia followed as quickly as she could. Her entire body shaking in despair.

She reached them as they opened the doors to the operating room. One of the medics turned around and caught Leia.

"Miss, you can't go in here", he said.

"I have to be by his side", Leia pleaded.

"I'm sorry, but you can't", the medic said. "Have a seat in one of those chairs. I'll ask one of the doctors to come out and give you a status update when they can."

Leia feebly nodded and sunk into one of the chairs. She watched the medic walk back into the operating room.

Leia placed her face into her hands and cried.

I shouldn't have gone to the office, she thought.

She would never forgive herself if the man she loved died. Her mind flashed to the different memories of him of when they laughed together, made love with each other, and danced together. The memories of them dancing stuck in her mind. She needed him. She couldn't be without him, especially since after years of loving him, he finally reciprocated her love.

She cried out in agony.

Wedge ran into the hallway and saw Leia in complete torment. He sat next to her and gently put his arm around her again, he didn't know what else to do. He couldn't even begin to comprehend the pain she was in. He silently prayed that Dalia would never have to feel the same heartache if he ever was mortally wounded.

The two just sat there in complete shock over the turn of events.

Din couldn't die. He was needed by too many people.

A/N: I nearly cried while writing the end of this chapter. I would love to know what you think about it.